1940 Mills Slot Machine Repair

Of all the things I have ever repaired, nothing was ever like this 1930’s Mills Slot Machine, which was owned by my mother-in-law. As a child, my wife remembered playing with it in her grandparents’ basement — putting real quarters in and every so often it would hit a jackpot, spilling all the coins out onto the floor. Big fun for a five-year-old, if it didn’t fall on her.

In the following video, this is how a similar slot machine should work:

This thing was heavy, and I mean really heavy. The whole case itself was solid cast iron. It sat on a wooden table with thin legs. I couldn’t imagine it falling; even from four feet it would probably break the floor before it cracked the case.

The problem it was having was that quarters were stuck in the slot; probably done by either my wife or her sister many years ago. But I took upon the accepted the challenge. It probably just needed a good dose of lubrication.

This is what I saw when I opened up the back. Many levers, springs, and gears. It was one of the coolest reveals I had ever seen — all powered by not an ounce of electricity, but just gravity defying tension. But even though the back was exposed, how was I going to oil the front? There had to been a way to get it opened. I checked all the seams, shook it a bit as best I could, and to no avail, the front cover could not be removed. Why? Because there was no front cover. The internal guts had to come out. This was a job for YouTube. So, I went on a hunt and found this remarkable video.

After watching this video, I jumped up and litterally screamed with delight. Just like the guy in the video, I put my index and middle finger on the bottom chassis, my thumb on the top, and flawlessly lifted the entire guts of this work of art out and placed it on the table. From there I could see my problem.

After removing the jam, I sprayed the entire insides with WD-40 and sprayed a good dose of lithium grease. After that, all the internal parts, as well as those in the coin mechanisms worked like a charm. When I checked the coin box and overflow, to my amazement, I found over 25 silver quarters with dates from the 1940’s and 1950’s stuck inside. What a treat — the last person to ever touch these was probably my wife as a little girl. All coins turned into my mother-in-law (after a good trial run of course).

My mother-in-law wasn’t interested in getting new ribbons for the wheels or repainting the outside; just to make sure it was in good working order. A machine like this is probably valued around $1,000.00 or more depending on how well it works and aesthetics.

I have to admit, this was probably one of the coolest repairs I had ever done. A rare look into a historical americana masterpiece.